


Absentee

by JazzRaft



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Pining, Polyamory, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:14:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: There's this weird feeling in Ravus' gut that keeps him up at night. He's sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Nyx is not there.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Nyx Ulric
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Absentee

**Author's Note:**

> A [prompt fill](https://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/615940682291544064/p-50-with-ravnyxnoct-i-love-how-you-write-their) for an anonymous request!

Ravus couldn’t sleep. Which wasn’t generally unusual for him, but his reason for it tonight was what perplexed him.

Noctis seemed to sleep soundly enough across from him, apparently unburdened by the vacancy between them. His skin was hazy with a sheen of silver in the moonlight, dozing comfortably in the aftermath of their more discomforting indulgence of each other. The pristine planes of his back were struck through with pink lines, flogged by the drag of Ravus’ magitek nails down his skin. Noctis said that it didn’t bother him – that he enjoyed it, in fact – so Ravus never let it bother him.

But it bothered him now that the medium between them wasn’t there to soothe those angry marks. Something grew cold in him, staring at them, and failing to remember how softer hands than his nursed those red tracks from that delicate white skin.

“And you think I’m the one who’ll end up getting us in trouble,” Nyx would tease, settled firmly over a squirming Noctis, with pretty smelling oil on his palms as he worked the claw marks from his back. “You leave behind more evidence than I do.”

“I can always accuse your Galahdian savagery as the cause,” Ravus would snipe back, flexing the kinked joints of the accursed prosthetic and debating whether or not he should find a way to blunt the nails.

Nyx would laugh, short and rough, and maybe the heel of his palm would dig into the divots of Noctis’ back in response to the insult, making the prince whine. He was as aroused by Nyx’s gentle ministrations as he was by Ravus’ rough handling of him, which was how they made the whole equation equal out to such a satisfying sum. Ravus was the firm hand to Nyx’s light touch, and Noctis content to be the happy medium between the two.

Ravus just never realized how much he relied on Nyx to make that compromise.

“What?”

Noctis blinked back at him, eyes as misty as the blue dawns of Tenebrae. He had an almost supernatural sense for people looking at him; a product of his position, learning how to be acutely aware of the watchful eyes on him at any given moment. Ravus was familiar with the feeling. He was more familiar with making finely crafted denials. Sometimes his best ones were silent.

“Did you want to…?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?” Noctis asked, his voice hoarse in the darkness.

“Nothing.”

Usually, that was enough to silence Noctis. Ravus had taught him to take commands like that quite nicely. But then, usually Ravus never left himself open for him to ask questions in the first place. Noctis winced as he rolled over to face him. The ache always looked so attractive on him, furrowing the fine lines of his brow and pressing the flushed pink of his lips together as he moved. Ravus liked him that way, proud of himself for being able to rend the unruly Prince of Lucis so raw.

Tonight, he didn’t like it so much. He liked the perceptive tug of Noctis’ gaze even less.

“You’re worried about him,” he said, as if Ravus were so easy for him to read.

Ravus should find the strength to correct that. He should dismiss these callow reflections on Nyx Ulric – as if he were so sentimental – and take advantage of his absence to properly school Noctis against thinking he could ever have the upper hand. That he would ever dare let him think that there was something to see past his frosty veneer. It would be simple enough to do after he’d already taken Noctis apart so thoroughly. It might even be cathartic for Ravus, to drive out the shade of Nyx through the prince’s shuddering pleas.

Try as he may to summon his enthusiasm for disciplining Noctis though, Ravus still felt himself sinking beneath the empty space. Nyx was an adequate lover, though a churlish companion. He didn’t miss his company, nor Noctis’, when he returned to Niflheim. It wasn’t even that often that all three of them ended up in the same place together at once. It wasn’t as if he was accustomed to feeling Ulric’s presence in whatever bed they landed in. His pleasure in the arrangement had more to do with having power over Noctis than it ever did with Nyx having a share.

But there was a certain security from Nyx’s side that Ravus didn’t expect he would miss. There was safety in knowing he couldn’t _truly_ hurt Noctis, that there was someone that could heal any pains Ravus might inflict on him that he didn’t know how to heal himself. With Nyx, it was safe for him to be at his worst with Noctis.

Ravus wasn’t used to feeling safe. He didn’t know that had been what he felt until it was gone.

“He’ll be back,” Noctis said, softly, hand caressing the cold sheets between them. “You get used to it… eventually.”

It was clear to Ravus then that “eventually” had yet to come for Noctis. He could see it in the faint crease of his forehead, hidden beneath the debauched fall of his hair, in how the smooth slope of his shoulder tensed as his fingers clasped the wrinkles of the bedsheets.

Maybe it was because Ravus knew what was out there on the frontlines that Nyx was facing. Maybe it was because he’d seen himself what the Empire was making in their mad scientists’ labs. Maybe he did feel a little guilty, literally sleeping with his enemies only to send one out to be slaughtered by his own side.

He didn’t cross the space between him and Noctis. That would be too much like pretending Nyx wouldn’t be back to claim it for himself. Instead, he set his hand next to his, the one that wasn’t cold and unfeeling and only capable of inflicting pain. He didn’t hold Noctis’ hand and tell him it was all going to be okay, because he wasn’t a silly boy that believed in lies and that everything would come up daisies. He didn’t want Noctis’ comfort either, but the prince’s little finger still brushed against the side of his hand, like he was asking permission to hold it.

Just this once, Ravus let him.

\---

The Kingsglaive returned the very next day. Ravus could never accuse Nyx of having bad timing.

Ravus only had an hour before he was set to make his flight back to Gralea, and he hadn’t planned on taking that hour to say goodbye to Nyx, but Noctis insisted. Noctis was more willful when Nyx was nearby, thinking he could be the one making demands of Ravus. Another reason not to miss Ulric when he was away.

Watching Noctis tackle him with kisses once they found a place to be alone, even more of a reason. Ravus lingered by the door, arms crossed, thoroughly disgusted by the wanton urgency of the prince’s kisses, and Nyx’s endeared smirk between each one. They were disgusting. Always had been. Whereas Ravus could constraint Noctis’ passion when they were alone, Nyx encouraged boundless affection.

It made Ravus feel sick. Sicker when Nyx came up for air just to turn that wicked smirk on him.

“Did you miss me too?” he asked.

Ravus scowled. His stomach felt warm. Must have been his lunch.

“Not in the slightest.”


End file.
